Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/142

132 The completion of the railways leading to the United States has prejudiced the market and greatly diminished the production of cotton in Mexico, as cotton can now be imported without the expense and delay that were hitherto unavoidable.

Potatoes are grown to a small extent in Mexico. The seed appears to degenerate, and needs frequent changes. A sort of sweet-potato, called the camote, is grown, but not extensively. Whatever, therefore, may be the natural capabilities of Mexico for agriculture, they are certainly for the future rather than of the present.